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Statue of Virgin Mary with Jesus, inside Đakovo Cathedral (Cathedral of St. Peter), a Roman Catholic Church built in 18th century, in Đakovo, Osijek-Baranja county, Slavonia region of Croatia.
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Beautiful fresco on the interior wall of Đakovo Cathedral (Cathedral of St. Peter), a Roman Catholic Church built in 18th century, in Đakovo, Osijek-Baranja county, Slavonia region of Croatia.
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Beautiful view of the ceiling inside Borujerdi House, situated in Kashan, Isfahan province of Iran.
The Borujedri historial house was built in 1857 by architect Ustad Ali Maryam, for the wife of Seyyed Mehdi Borujerdi, a wealthy merchant. The wife came from the affluent Tabatabaei family, which Seyyed Mehdi fall in love with her and built this house for her.
It consists of a rectangular beautiful courtyard, delightful wall paintings by the royal painter Sani ol molk, and three 40 meter tall wind towers which help cool the house to unusually cool temperatures. It has 3 entrances, and all the classic signatures of traditional Persian residential architecture, such as a biruni yard (exterior yard) and a daruni yard (andarun) (interior yard). The house took eighteen years to build using 150 craftsmen.
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Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde) is a minor basilica in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Montreal.
It is the third largest church in Quebec after St. Joseph's Oratory and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré east of Quebec City.
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Surma or Suri are sedentary pastoral people living in south west of Ethiopia, on the western bank of the Omo River, in the Kibish and Tulgit area.
These breeders tribal groups have a cattle centred culture. They grow cabbage, beans, yams, tobacco and coffee and breed their cattle, mostly cows, on their traditional lands, located in the Omo Valley. Cows are tremendously important for the Suris. They do not see cattle simply as a material asset but as a life sustaining and meaningful companion. Suri even sing songs for them and make fires to warm them. These cows are not bred for their meat and are usually not killed unless they are needed for ceremonial purposes. They use their milk and their blood, which they both drink. Cows also have a social and symbolic meaning in Suri’s society. Suri men are judged on how much cattle they own. In desperate times, Suri men can risk their lives to steal cattle from other tribes. The average male in the Suri tribe owns 40 cows. Every young male is named after their cattle, which they have to look after since the age of 8. Cows are given to the bride’s family after the wedding ceremony. Usually 20 cows and they offer also a Kalashnikov as wedding gift.
This central role of the cow in their way of life accounts for the fierce independence they want to preserve and explains their warlike culture. Indeed, it’s quite common to see men and even women carrying Kalashnikovs, which are part of the daily life. Their remote homeland has always been a place of traditional rivalries with the neighbouring tribes such as the Bume (Nyangatom) or the Toposa from Sudan who regularly team up to raid the Suri’s cattle. These fights, and even sometimes battles, have become quite bloody since automatic firearms have become available from the parties in the Sudanese Civil War. This conflict has pushed neighbouring tribes into Suri’s land and is a constant competition to keep and protect their territory and owns.
Like their neighbours, the Surma also paint their bodies. They create a variety of designs on their necked bodies using their fingertips, which helps them to expose their dark skins. The painting could have both a beautifying and opponent frightening purpose. As one studies these body paintings whirls, stripes, flower and star designs are noticeable. Surma men who are generally believed to be expert artists also paint the girls.
A ritual chief in the villages known as the Komoru, dressed in colourful robes and wearing a crown of baboon fur leads the Suri. Village life is largely communal, sharing the produce of the cattle (milk and blood). The men in an assembly take decisions of the village.
Although their traditional remoteness and autarky is threatened, only few Surma are familiar with Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and their literacy level is very low. Lip plate and Donga stick fight are the two typical distinctive features of these people, which they share with the neighbouring Mursi people.
Suri women wear giant lip plate, a sign of beauty, like in Mursi tribe, and also a prime attraction for tourists which help to sustain a view of them, in guidebooks and travel articles, as an untouched people, living in one of the last wildernesses of Africa. When they are ready to marry, teenagers start to make a hole in the lower lip with a wood stick. It will be kept for one night, and is removed to put a bigger one. This is very painful at this time. Few months after, the lip plate has its full size, and the men see the girl as beautiful. The lip plate is made of wood or terracotta. They have to remove the lower incisors to let some space for the disc. Sometimes the pressure of the plate breaks the lip. This is a big problem for the girl because men will consider her as ugly, she won't be able to marry anyone in the tribe apart the old men or the sick people.
The Sagenai, called also donga ritual is a combat that brings both wounds and honor to both the winner and loser. The men bodies are decorated with ritual drawings and their heads are protected by a sort of helmet. For the boys participating to the donga, this challenge is a true moment of glory. The combat is taking place in a middle of a circle made by the crowd. The rules are simple and can be summed up as follows: the person who manages to stay on his feet is the winner, and one must absolutely not kill his opponent. The winner will be honored by the entire tribe and can choose girls to date.
The lands of the Suri are stolen by the Ethiopian government to be rented to foreign companies. A Malaysian company, Lim Slow Jin, runs the Koka plantation near Kibish on the east side of the Omo. The lands are confiscated and rented out for 1 euro per hectare for a year.
© Eric Lafforgue
Colorful buildings surrounding the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro (Amphitheater Square), in the historical center of Lucca, in Tuscany region, Central Italy.
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Hamed-al-Nil mosque in Omdurman, located in the capitol’s suburbs. The Sufis, all dressed in green, come here every week to celebrate their saints. The first echoes of the drums ring out, the crowd forms into a large circle of regulars and onlookers, and the chanting begins. The atmosphere is both solemn and joyful. The cyclical chant grows in intensity, somewhere between a prayer and an incantation. Suddenly, some men break free from the perfect circle and run to the center. They start spinning, arms spread out wide, and their eyes half closed. They will do so until they wear out, under the spell of devotion and egged on by the crowd’s cheers. For an hour, they nearly fall over, but manage to keep their balance. The chant accelerates. The believers, as well as the infidel that I am, can feel it in their gut as the same sentence is repeated over and over, “God is alive”.
A dervish collapses at my feet, and doesn’t get up… The crowd spreads out to give him some room to breathe. The sun disappears over the horizon, the call to prayer rings out, and the ceremony comes to a close. I then discover the extreme social range of the Sufis: businessmen rub shoulders with paupers. Ali, a rich businessman explains to me that the Sufis preach peace and a moderate Islam. “We are a bit like the hippies of Islam!” he tells me with a laugh. Some of the hair-dos around me, made from dreadlocks, remind me more of the Rastafari!
© Eric Lafforgue
Sculpture of a femle on the outer wall of a residential building, in the Upper Town of Zagreb, the capital and largest city in Croatia.
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© Eric Lafforgue
<aYunnan is a province of the People’s Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country and with a population of 45,7 million (2009). The capital of the province is Kunming. Yunnan is noted for a very high level of ethnic diversity. Among the country's 56 recognised ethnic groups, twenty-five are found in Yunnan. Some 38% of the province's population are members of minorities, including the Tibetan, Mongolian and Manchu, among others. Yunnan’s ethnic diversity is reflected in its linguistic diversity. Languages spoken in Yunnan include Tibeto-Burman languages, Tai languages and Hmong-Mien languages.
© Eric Lafforgue
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View of the main prayer hall of Vank Cathedral (Holy Savior Cathedral, Church of the Saintly Sisters), in Isfahan, Isfahan province of Iran.
The cathedral was established in 1606, dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of Armenian deportees that were resettled by Shah Abbas I during the Ottoman War of 1603-1618.
The interior is covered with fine frescos and gilded carvings and includes a wainscot of rich tile work. The delicately blue and gold painted central dome depicts the Biblical story of the creation of the world and man's expulsion from Eden. Pendentives throughout the church are painted with a distinctly Armenian motif of a cherub's head surrounded by folded wings. The ceiling above the entrance is painted with delicate floral motifs in the style of Persian miniature. Two sections, or bands, of murals run around the interior walls: the top section depicts events from the life of Jesus, while the bottom section depicts tortures inflicted upon Armenian martyrs by the Ottoman Empire.
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Interior view of Saint Gevork Monastery, situated in the village of Mughni, in Aragatsotn Province of Armenia.
Founded in the 13th century, Saint Gevork Monastery was built to house some of the remains of Saint George who was known as the "Slayer of Dragons"..
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Night view of the magnificent Azadi Tower (i.e., Freedom Tower), a monument located at Azadi Square, in Tehran, the capital of Iran. It is one of the landmarks of Tehran, marking the west entrance to the city.
The tower is about 45 metres (148 ft) tall and is completely clad in cut marble. It was commissioned by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, to mark the 2,500th year of the foundation of the Imperial State of Iran.
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